A Hero's Ghost
by Ptolemaius
Summary: Bakugo and Kirishima, now fully fledged heroes, are informed of possible villain activity near Bakugo's old house. But guilt from the past haunts the Explosive Hero. What will they find there? Oneshot


**Thank you for taking the time to check this out.**

**This is my first story on the site. ****Constructive criticism is always welcome.**

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He felt sore.

Really sore.

He also couldn't move. Or see for that matter.

Where was he? He felt like he was bound to something, but he couldn't quite tell. His gauntlets and the items from his tool belts had been taken away. He tried to use his quirk only to realize he couldn't feel his hands. He tried to shift his body only to have a blinding pain shoot through him. He screamed but it was mostly muffled by a make shift rag in his mouth.

He let out a trembling gasp, as he tried to clear his mind from the surprising amount of pain running through him. He had to focus and recollect what had happened. Him and Hair-for-Brains had been patrolling in Mustafu near his old house...

***FLASHBACK***

_"Oi Katsuki!" Called Kirishima "I know you like, __know the area like the back of your hand, but don't go separating us now y'hear?" The manly hero exclaimed as he jogged up to him._

_"Shut it, Shitty-Hair" he ground out, through clenched teeth "We are here because an anonymous tip informed my agency for possible villain activity. If that doesn't sound shady as hell I don't know what is" He looked around the district while he fiddled with his grenade gauntlets. The shithole looked abandoned. It wasn't exactly bustling with activity the last time he was here but at least it didn't look like a slum. _

_"We could be walking into a fucking ambush for all we know. So we need to be alert. That said, shut yer trap before I blow it off" he voiced lowly, still surveying the area as he walked, with a scrutinizing gaze. Hard to believe people used to live here. Most of the buildings and apartment complexes were cracked, paint long gone revealing the grey concrete underneath. There were no windows to speak of either, most of them cracked or completely gone._

_After he graduated from U.A. villain attacks in the area tripled in number. His old house was targeted specifically. Damn worms knew they couldn't beat him in a brawl; so they targeted his family. The hag absolutely refused to move, despite the continuous attacks. How the hell had his family's location been leaked, he had no idea. It wasn't until a few years later that his dad finally convinced her to move somewhere else. Apparently the villains had no idea, as they kept attacking the area. Several raids on criminal cells were done by the police and heroes. Unfortunately, the destructive aftermath from them rendered the area uninhabitable and too expensive for the government to repair. In turn all civilians had to move away from the area._

_Nowadays, Mustafu was considered as a ghost town by most people. Villains sometimes used the area as shelter to hide from heroes, but those incidents were rare and few and far between, as heroes (Like them right now) still patrolled the city._

_"True, but there's no need to be so uptight Baku-bro" Kirishima grinned as he vaulted an abandoned car, staying close but behind Bakugo, also scanning the area with a seriousness hidden by his sharp grin and seemingly calm demeanor. " You used to live close to here right? Anything we should watch out for?" He asked looking at the back of his costume clad friend._

_"Fuck if I know. Last time I was here was years ago. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious" He growled out as they drew nearer the location the tip told them. _

_A few minutes of silence passed by as they reaches the destination. The apartment complex was in an even worse condition than the rest of the houses. The top half of the floors had crumbled exposing the steel support beams that helped the structure stay up. The stairs that led up to said floors had collapsed on several sections leaving some areas on the building completely inaccessible. The whole place reeked of a smell that reminded Bakugo of a casualty ridden rescue operation. _

_All in all, the thing looked like it had been through war and a half, barely surviving. How the hell it had gotten to this condition, Bakugo could only guess. He stared up at it mentally preparing himself, in case the thing was a hideout after all. _

_"So uh.." Kirishima's nervous voice broke the silence "How have you been doing the past few months? Mina and the rest have started a dance group as a way to pas time and I think you might lik-"_

_"__If the next words that come out of your mouth are not related to this mission, I'm ditching your sorry ass and doing this alone" He hissed as he stopped and turned around to glare at his red headed friend._

_Kirishima gulped but stood his ground firmly "We never get to talk outside of work dude. You're always so busy you know?" He frowned at him "I know you want to be the Number 1 Hero and all but me, our class- we are all worried about you. Whenever you stop working you're either training or handling the press or something." Kirishima voiced his frustration at him. " You need to take care of yourself more, it's not manly if you burn yourself out" He concluded with seriousness in his voice._

_Bakugo scoffed and turned around to look at the building._

_"Then explain this to me; how am I gonna beat that bastard Lemillion with anything less? Fucker goes above and beyond in everything hero related he does. How can I compete with him if I don't work twice as hard? Besides, did you forget our school motto?" He barked, as he began walking again, insinuating the conversation was over._

_Kirishima was having none of it. Work or not, he finally had Bakugo talking. He was not letting him go that easily. He ran up to the explosive blond once again and grabbed him by the shoulder, turning him around to face him._

_"Mirio-senpai already has made a ton of sacrifices to get to where he is. He has literally put himself before others to a point he can't handle anymore. Everyone has their limit" He said, grimly._

_"Last time I spoke with Tamajiki-senpai he told me Mirio-san goes to therapy several times a week. He has already gone beyond what he can handle. I don't want the same thing to happen to you too, you idiot!" He yelled in Katsuki's face trying to get through to him._

_Uncharacteristically Bakugo stayed silent, almost as if he was appraising Kirishima's words. He clicked his tongue and pushed himself off his friend. He looked at his hand and then back to Kirishima, red eyes gleaming with something his friend couldn't quite name._

_"If that moron is already broken then he doesn't deserve the No 1 spot. His conviction is weak." He spoke coldly and apathetically at his friend's appalled face before he continued "All Might went through much worse in his career. Did you see him break? Did you see him complain? No. He bared through it with a motherfucking smile on his goddamn face. And before he died he claimed he could've still done more." Bakugo took a step back and looked at his closed fist. "I **will **do better than him, no, I **have** to do better than him. Especially with someone unfit of the spot filling his place."_

_Anger present on his face Kirishima asked "What's your __conviction, then?" He asked taking Bakugo by surprise "What makes you so much better than Mirio-senpai. What makes you think you'll do better than him?!"_

_For the briefest of moments, Bakugo's mind flashed with the image of a green headed, freckled and thin boy. The words 'You can do it Kacchan!' echoed in his mind. He steeled his eyes, refusing to let himself tear up. Even now, so many years after the incident, the nerd's death plagued him with guilt._

_A loud bang from the building stopped him from answering._

_They both looked back and then at each other, before they both began to run at the noise. He heard Kirishima say 'This isn't over' before they took off._

_Emotions would have to take__ the backseat, for now. They had to focus..._

***FLASHBACK END***

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a scream. It was shrill and it sounded... familiar?

Wait. Where was Kirirshima? Oh God, was that him? He fought against his restraints for several minutes, as the screaming pierced his ears. In the end he slumped back into position letting muscle fatigue overtake him. The screaming continued for what felt like hours, at times stopping and re-starting a few moments later. He wondered how the individual screaming had not tore through his vocal cords yet.

He felt so useless. There was someone in trouble, possibly being fucking tortured, not three rooms away from him; and yet here he was. Pathetic, unable to move, _helpless._ It made him sick to to even think about it. He became a hero to prevent shit like this from happening damn it!

He was reminded of something he said a long time ago.

'Take a dive from the roof and pray you will be reborn with a Quirk in your next life!'

Tears began forming in the corner of his eyes.

He was such a fucking hypocrite. He gave a promise on that boy's grave. And yet...

He closed his eyes and prayed that the person's suffering stopped soon.

* * *

"You have quite a pair of lungs on you ay?" His cheerful voice was drowned out by his new friend's scream. He rolled his eyes as he reached to the now bloody counter, grabbing the abandoned car battery he found outside. "Not what I thought I'll be using this for, but I'm not complaining~" He sing-songed as he hooked the clamps in his hand on the battery's poles.

He was letting his friend take a two minute break before they continued their session. After all, he did look pretty winded.

His costume, once whole, had been ripped to shreds (Not by him mind you he wasn't a pervert, he had done it himself with his quirk as h_e was oh so delightfully **squirming** at the start of their play session_). His muscular torso had so many lacerations he couldn't even begin count them. A few small (and big) holes adorned his body like decorations on a cake. His arms had been pretty much reduced to two cute little stumps that now hanged loosely by his side. He hadn't touched his face much, save for a few slaps when he was about to faint a few times.

After all, how can you share something with someone who is knocked out? Kacchan had been such a good teacher...

"All right, break time's over!" He exclaimed, as he stopped fiddling with the car battery. The wiring had been tricky to nail, so he better enjoy his efforts.

"Whai...*wheeze* ar yuo *cough* doing this?" The formerly proud hero wheezed out, not being able to talk properly, due to the holes in his chest. "

"Wow! You can still speak! Not many of my friends have lasted this far..." He sighed happily, admiration present in his green eyes. He placed the battery next to the chair his friend was tied to. He stood up and grabbed the battery's probes. He looked down on the hero, with a slight blush adorning his freckled cheeks.

"Heroes are truly amazing." He purred with a crazed look on his gaunt face.

He hummed a happy tune, as he gingerly pushed the probes in the deepest holes in the red head's torso, only to be greeted by a new scream from him.

"Oh shush ya big baby, I haven't even plugged it in yet" He giggled, one hand softly patting the hero's sweaty head, while the other one pushed one of the probes deeper in the hole in his chest. He took a step back and nodded to himself, apparently happy with his handy work. A small smile bloomed on his freckled face, as he went to complete the circuit with the battery.

"Don't worry Red Riot; we'll be done soon" He said, his previous smile growing until it was splitting his face "And then..." He trailed off, his voice taking an almost adoring tone. He completed the circuit and basked in the music his friend provided for him.

"We will be having ourselves a small childhood reunion!" He took out a slightly charred photo from his vest. It showed two small children. A small Bakugo was sulking looking away from the camera and the other boy. The other boy's face was not there, due to the burned state of the picture.

"Ain't that right..." He smiled at the picture before he looked at the room behind him, hands shaking with excitement.

"Kacchan?"

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**So how did you like it? Was it awful? Was it good?**

**Again constructive criticism is always welcomed, so please tell if you think I could improve somewhere.**

**Thank you for reading!**


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